April 24, 2009 - 14:13 AMT
Solana: Armenian-Turkish agreement good news for Europe
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Thursday 'warmly welcomed' the Armenian-Turkish agreement on road map on normalization of relations.

"This is very good news for both countries and for Europe as a whole. It is an important contribution towards stability and security in a crucial region of Europe and I commend both parties for their courage and vision," Solana said in a statement.

On April 22, Armenia and Turkey agreed on road-map to normalize ties. The joint statement issued by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Turkey said that Turkey and Armenia, together with Switzerland as mediator, have been working intensively with a view to normalizing their bilateral relations and developing them in a spirit of good-neighborliness, and mutual respect, and thus to promoting peace, security and stability in the whole region.

"The two parties have achieved tangible progress and mutual understanding in this process and they have agreed on a comprehensive framework for the normalization of their bilateral relations in a mutually satisfactory manner. In this context, a road-map has been identified.

This agreed basis provides a positive prospect for the on-going process," the statement said.